Google + Riya
Yeah, I have heard
the rumour too, a day or two back, I was pretty surprised (to say the least). I could understand <$5m for a nice tech, but it's the price that surprises me. If the rumour is accurate, $50m ish is an enormous sum for a play with zero beyond technology.
I think that tells us something quite interesting; the big guns are looking for cool ideas, but not finding anything that meets their criteria. When they do, they've got every reason to spend lots of $$$ - sitting on that much cash is not a great idea for long periods of time, especially when your
expectations are being amplified by the market.
That, in itself, is a nice bit of evidence to back up the fact that they're increasingly behind the curve - I think there are plenty of cool plays around. Not a bubble, but certainly inflation...
You may also wanna check
Peter Rip's blog - he backed and has posted a bit about Riya.